The next several Book Spoilers will be parts used in various forms for Jackson's Unexpected Journey... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.

From An Unexpected Party: The Hobbit

..."Poor Bilbo couldn't bear it any longer. At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside... ...Then he fell flat on the floor, and kept on calling out "struck by lightning, struck by lightning!" over and over again; and that was all they could get out of him for a long time. So they took him and laid him out of the way on the drawing-room sofa with a drink at his elbow.... ... "...Excitable little fellow," said Gandalf, as they sat down again. "Gets funny queer fits, but he is one of the best, one of the best—as fierce as a dragon in a pinch." ... If you have ever seen a dragon in a pinch, you will realize that this was only poetical exaggeration applied to any hobbit, even to Old Took's great-granduncle Bullroarer, who was so huge (for a hobbit) that he could ride a horse. He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul's head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment. ... In the meanwhile, however, Bullroar's gentler descendant was reviving in the drawing-room." First draft of TH:AUJ Geeky Observation List - updated list coming soon

I was waiting for this in TH and it just turned into a 'swanning' faint. Both are quite entertaining, but i cannot decide if there is a 'better' choice. Perhaps the movie version is more appropriate for the Bilbo that develops (beautifully i must add) in the film...only to get better i suspect

This is another Book Spoilers used in Jackson's movie, An Unexpected Journey... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.

Over Hill and Under Hill: The Hobbit

… ""Who are these miserable persons?" said the Great Goblin. … 'Dwarves…" …said one of the drivers…. "…We found them sheltering in our Front Porch." … "What do you mean by it?" said the Great Goblin turning to Thorin. "Up to no good, I'll warrant! Spying on the private business of my people… …Thieves, I shouldn't be surprised to learn! Murderers and friends of Elves, not unlikely! Come! What have you got to say?" … "Thorin the dwarf at your service!" he replied—it was merely a polite nothing. "Of the things which you suspect and imagine we had no idea at all. We sheltered from a storm in what seemed a convenient cave and unused; nothing was further from our thoughts than inconveniencing goblins in any way whatever…." … "…Um!" said the Great Goblin. "So you say! Might I ask what you were doing up in the mountains at all, and where you were coming from, and where you were going to? In fact I should like to know all about you. Not that it will do you much good, Thorin Oakenshield, I know too much about your folk already; but let's have the truth, or I will prepare something particularly uncomfortable for you!" … "We were on a journey to visit our relatives, our nephews and nieces, and first, second, and third cousins, and the other descendants of our grandfathers, who live on the East side of these truly hospitable mountains," said Thorin… … "…He is a liar, O truly tremendous one!" said one of the drivers. "Several of our people were struck by lightning in the cave, when we invited these creatures to come below; and they are as dead as stones. Also he has not explained this!" He held out the sword which Thorin had worn, the sword which came from the Trolls' lair. … The Great Goblin gave a truly awful howl of rage when he looked at it, and all his soldiers… …clashed their shields, and stamped. They knew the sword at once. It had killed hundreds of goblins in its time, when the fair elves of Gondolin hunted them in the hills or did battle before their walls. They had called it Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver, but the goblins called it simply Biter. They hated it and hated worse any one that carried it. … "Murderers and elf-friends!" the Great Goblin shouted. "Slash them! Beat them! Bite them! …Take them away to dark holes full of snakes, and never let them see the light again!" He was in such a rage that he jumped off his seat and himself rushed at Thorin with his mouth open. … Just at that moment all the lights in the cavern went out, and the great fire went off poof! into a tower of blue glowing smoke, right up the roof, that scattered piercing white sparks all among the goblins." First draft of TH:AUJ Geeky Observation List - updated list coming soon

Here's another Book Spoiler found in Jackson's adaptation of The Hobbit… for a moment of Tolkien-zen.

From Over Hill and Under Hill: The Hobbit

… "All was well, until one day they met a thunderstorm---more than a thunderstorm, a thunder-battle… …thunder and lightning in the mountains at night, when storms come up from East and West and make war. The lightning splinters on the peaks and rocks shiver, and great crashes split the air and go rolling and tumbling into every cave and hollow; and the darkness is filled with overwhelming noise and sudden light… … …They were high up in a narrow place, with a dreadful fall into a dim valley at one side of them. There they were sheltering under a hanging rock for the night, and he lay beneath a blanket and shook from head to toe. When he peeped out in the lightning-flashes, [Bilbo] saw that across the valley the stone-giants were out and were hurling rocks at one another for a game, and catching them, and tossing them down into the darkness where they smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with a bang. Then came a wind and a rain, and the wind whipped the rain and the hail about in every direction… … "…This won't do at all!" said Thorin. "If we don't get blown off or drowned, or struck by lightning, we shall be picked up by some giant and kicked sky-high for a football…." . … …they sent Fili and Kili to look for a better shelter. They had very sharp eyes, and being the youngest of the dwarves by some fifty years they usually got these sort of jobs (when everybody could see that it was absolutely no use sending Bilbo)… … …Soon Fili and Kili came crawling back, holding on to the rocks in the wind. "We have found a dry cave," they said, "not far round the next corner; and ponies and all could get inside." … "Have you thoroughly explored it?" said the wizard, who knew that caves up in the mountains were seldom un-occupied. … "Yes, yes!" they said, though everybody knew they could not have been long about it; they had come back too quick. "It isn't all that big, and it does not go far back." … That, of course, is the dangerous part about caves: you don't know how far they go back, sometimes, or where a passage behind may lead to, or what is waiting for you inside. But now Fili and Kili's news seemed good enough. So they all got up and prepared to move…" First draft of TH:AUJ Geeky Observation List - updated list coming soon

Here's what happened after the Company met the stone-giants in a Book Spoiler found in Jackson's adaptation of The Hobbit… for a moment of Tolkien-zen.

From Over Hill and Under Hill: The Hobbit

… "The wind was howling and the thunder still growling, and they had a business getting themselves and their ponies along. Still it was not very far to go, and before long they came to a big rock standing out into the path... ...As they passed under the arch, it was good to hear the wind and the rain outside instead of all about them, and to feel safe from the giants and their rocks... ...they explored the cave from end to end. … It seemed quite a fair size, but not too large and mysterious. It had a dry floor and some comfortable nooks... ...Oin and Gloin wanted to light a fire at the door to dry their clothes... ...They talked and talked, and forgot about the storm, and discussed what each would do with his share of the treasure (when they got it, which at the moment did not seem so impossible); and so they dropped off to sleep one by one. And that was the last time that they used the ponies, packages, baggages, tools and paraphernalia that they had brought with them. … It turned out a good thing that night that they had brought little Bilbo with them, after all. For somehow, he could not go to sleep for a long while; and when he did sleep, he had very nasty dreams... ...he dreamed that the floor of the cave was giving way, and he was slipping—beginning to fall down, down, goodness knows where to. … At that he woke up with a horrible start, and found that part of his dream was true... ...he gave a very loud yell, as loud a yell as a hobbit can give, which is surprising for their size. … Out jumped the goblins, big goblins, great ugly-looking goblins, lots of goblins, before you could say rocks and blocks. There were six to each dwarf, at least, and two even for Bilbo; and they were all grabbed and carried through the crack, before you could say tinder and flint.... … ...It was deep, deep, dark, such as only goblins that have taken to living in the heart of the mountains can see through. The passages there were crossed and tangled in all directions, but the goblins new their way... ...and they way went down and down, and it was most horribly stuffy. The goblins were very rough, and pinched unmercifully, and chuckled and laughed in their horrible stony voices; and Bilbo was more unhappy even than when the troll had picked him up by his toes. He wished again and again for his nice bright hobbit-hole. Not for the last time." First draft of TH:AUJ Geeky Observation List - updated list coming soon

Here in the U.S., we can't WAIT for February 2nd and the excitement of "weather" or not Puxsutawney Phil will see his shadow! All eyes are turned to Pennsylvania and that rodent's prediction! Although, I must admit, this winter in my part of Michigan has been yummy-wonderful!! Here's a Book Spoiler that discusses the Celebrity of the Day... though really his badgering cousin... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.

From A Long-Expected Party: The Fellowship of the Ring

... "'Well yes--and no. Now it comes to it, I don't like parting with it at all, I may say. And I don't really see why I should. Why do you want me to?' he asked, and a curious change came over his voice. It was sharp with suspicion and annoyance. 'You are always badgering me about my ring; but you have never bothered me about the other things that I got on my journey.' ... 'No, but I had tobadger you,' said Gandalf. 'I wanted the truth. It was important. Magic rings are--well, magical; and they are rare and curious.'"

From In the House of Tom Bombadil: The Fellowship of the Ring

... "Frodo looked at it closely, and rather suspiciously (like one who has lent a trinket to a juggler). It was the same Ring, or looked the same and weighed the same: for that Ring had always seemed to Frodo to weigh strangely heavy in the hand. But something prompted him to make sure. He was perhaps a trifle annoyed with Tom for seeming to make so light of what even Gandalf thought so perilously important. He waited for an opportunity when the talk was going again, and Tom was telling an absurd story about badgersand their queer ways—then he slipped the Ring on."

From A Journey in the Dark: The Fellowship of the Ring

... "'There must have been a mighty crowd of dwarves here at one time,' said Sam; 'and every one of them busier than badgers for five hundred years to make all this, and most in hard rock too!'"

From Helm's Deep: The Two Towers

... "'Do not judge the counsel of Gandalf, until all is over, lord,' said Aragorn. ... 'The end will not be long,' said the king. 'But I will not end here, taken like an old badger in a trap. Snowmane and Hasufel and the horses of my guard are in the inner court. When dawn comes, I will bid men sound Helm's horn, and I will ride forth. Will you ride with me then son of Arathorn? Maybe we shall cleave a road, or make such an end as will be worth a song—if any be left to sing of us hereafter.'" Wishes you a Happy Groundhog Day!